Monthly Archives: November 2014

A Quiet Neighbourhood

“Is it a quiet neighbourhood?” 
Stephanie Ferguson, Thinking Partner, The Idea Tree Consulting
November 18, 2014

This was the question posed to me recently by someone asking about my new home in Victoria. Not really thinking, I said politely that it I supposed it was, except for the children who play in the complex adjacent to ours, but that was alright as it was good they were playing outside.

Later that day I wondered, why is it a good thing to live in a quiet neighbourhood? Presumably the phrase as people mean it well refers to low crime and few cars going up and down the street. But if you were to look out onto a the street of a “quiet neighbourhood” presumably there would be nobody walking up or down the street, few if any children playing, or people having conversations with their neighbors, checking in on the community regisgarden, or reading a community noticeboard.

At our last place of residence, we were able to create a great deal of community between the 3 buildings that made up our apartment complex, known as St. Regis. Continue reading

Posting With Purpose

Posting with purpose: why you need a social media strategy
Stephanie Ferguson, Thinking Partner, The Idea Tree Consulting
November 12, 2014.

A social media strategy allows you to link the goals of your organization to the interactions you are creating with your social media channels. With every post, tweet, pin, or photo, you should be posting that content for a reason, not just because you like it, or because it’s remotely related to your subject of interest, or it’s what other organizations seem to be doing. Why? Because every bit of effort you put into your social media content should be advancing the goals of your organization, not just giving you a presence on a particular social media platform.

It pains me to see organizations (and businesses) simply treat their Facebook page or Twitter feed as a box that needs to be ticked: as long as they have an account and there’s some activity regularly, they can consider their social media job done. Understandably, resources are limited, time is tight and volunteers may be scarce, but social media is an incredibly powerful tool, and if you have a strategy, it’s easy to make that tool work for your organization and your cause.

Here is an example of some social media use that is good, but just not quite going far enough. Continue reading